Ryuk, to the Lady
by Don't Eat Dead Doves
Summary: The Sailor of Silence catches word of a serial killer in Japan. She supposes that she should deal with it, the shinigami were always under destruction's jurisdiction after all. The supernatural forces are at play here, and she knows that Ryuk, her knight, her less-than-loyal chess piece, is behind it. They were colleagues, maybe even friends, but she is new, and death is not.


**This started as a Hotaru comes for the Death Note fic, but I decided to expand a bit more with the characters. **

**I chose Ryuk to narrate because he is the most impartial, but still takes pleasure in what watching the events gets him. I couldn't let Hotaru narrate because I wanted to preserve her sense of otherworldliness, and Light would be a less interesting POV.**

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**This will be a two part story. **

**Don't forget to review!**

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**I own nothing.**

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He knew he was trespassing into her domain when the Death Note fell to earth.

Still, she did not answer the challenge, leaving the unbearable weight of silence upon the mortal realm.

Ryuk bit into an apple, letting the juice drip down his chin. A boy who called himself God prepared to kill the detective.

It was an entertaining game, Ryuk supposed. Like a brilliant game of cat and mouse, only he was none too sure which one wanted to eat the other more.

The apple _(he knew this from the stories Light had told him)_ was the personification of sin, of knowledge. However, what Light didn't tell him, and what Ryuk has heard in the breath between the other's words, was that what Eve had done in the Garden was _right_, was wrong.

Curiosity killed the cat, but who in turn did curiosity save?

She would come for him, Ryuk was sure of it.

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The Lady was the first to flirt with death. Hotaru came, toting a glaive and bringing silence where her footsteps fell upon the barren land. Contrary to popular belief, death had never been evil, and the Lady was careful enough to get close to him.

Death told them that she was the first, that she was the last, and with her glaive, she would one day bring the end. Even they could not escape it.

Ryuk grinned, this was sure to be interesting.

The other shinigami were frightened, to be sure, but there was something in the way they mirrored her, for Hotaru was their goddess, their Lady, their queen.

"_How long must we wait?" _asked a few, they wished to die, be reborn and live in whatever new universe she lead them too. Their realm was barren, cold, and so very _boring_.

She smiled, "_I'm not sure, but the universe is a dying star. When destruction is at its finest, it will end."_

Hotaru forbade them from interfering too much with the lives of mortals, as Tokyo was hers, had always been hers.

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Ryuk had met Queen Serenity once, and he was one of the few.

She was dangerous. And beneath the delicate aura Serenity clothed herself in, like a piece of sea glass, was the almost tantalizing aroma of _chance_, of ambition, and the universe coiled into one beautiful woman. She smelled like the sea, too. Serenity was briny and raw, endless and clear.

He had been less impressed by her husband. Endymion's own power paled in comparison to Serenity, his roses and card tricks were suddenly useless in the face of the enemy. But, Ryuk knew that the two were very much in love.

So, because Serenity did love him, the useless pawn was made a king.

Ryuk laughed at the irony.

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Ryuk had never been particularly high up on the food chain. He had nothing like the power of Nu, of the elite among the gods of death, but he was odd enough to warrant watching.

His mind was so unusual to the other shinigami who had long given up. They had consigned to their sentences as harbingers of death.

Ryuk, on the other hand, still searched for a reason, a bit of _entertainment._

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You could call Ryuk's love for the Lady one sided, but this was a lie in itself.

Hotaru loved all of them, for they were her loyal pawns. If she was a queen, in the checker game that was the cosmos, Nu was her bishop, Rem was her rook, and the rest were pawns in the mind of Ryuk.

And he?

He was her knight, the only piece the queen couldn't mimic, unusual, an open possibility.

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("_Setsuna-mama," says little Hotaru, gesturing to the chess board. "One of these things is not like the others.")_

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Ryuk was always a wild card, and as more criminals drop dead, he grins, takes another bite of the apple.

'_She'll come.' _He thinks.

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And there she is, Hotaru Tomoe, Sailor of Silence.

"_Hello Ryuk." _Her voice holds the silky quality of the wind, blowing quietly through the night. The shadows in the room grow longer, the sun shines odd upon her skin.

She is younger than he remembers her, no older than fifteen. Her hair is darker than night, barely falls past her chin. Her frame is delicate, broken, but her eyes are just as he thought they would be.

They are like twin galaxies, the stars reflected in violet orbs.

Hotaru is smaller than he would like her to be, more vulnerable, more like a little girl than ever before.

'_I will protect her, I will protect my Lady.' _her thinks, but knows she does not need his protection. Ryuk knows that their difference in strength was more like a chasm, he might as well be an ant, and Hotaru; a god.

_(and she is; a god)_

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"_Light Yagami." _She says, softly.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" he says, he has to be careful until he learns her name.

"_I am Hotaru Tomoe. I have come to retrieve my Death Note."_

Light laughs, surely this little girl must be foolish. If this was her Death Note, shouldn't she know its nature? He writes her name quickly, instructing her to leave his room. A minute passes, she doesn't budge.

He stiffens, turns to Ryuk. The shinigami is laughing, high and cruel, juggling the apple in his hands.

"_You are a fool, Light Yagami. Surely you must know that Death Notes don't work on people like me, gods."_

"Are you stupid? I am God! Who are you to argue with God?"

"_Prove it then." _she says, with a smirk, "_Write your own name then."_

He doesn't answer, the pen stills upon the page.

'_A fake name, then.'_ he decides.

"_It's no fake," _she says. "_Light Yagami, you are destined to die."_

The sun is low on the horizon, basking the room in a pale yellow glow. She surveyed him, like he was a particular sort of flea that the cat had yet to scratch, the dim light making her glow ethereal in the dark. Ryuk smiled, he knew that the glow was no aid of the moon, but her power on its own.

"_Hello, Ryuk."_

"Lady Hotaru... It's nice to see you again."

She hums, "_Why are you here, Ryuk? Still, it is nice to see you again, I suppose." _

Ryuk takes another bite of the apple, the juice dripping onto the floor, Light stares confusedly.

"I was bored, it was merely chance that this one picked it up."

Hotaru doesn't seem to be amused, but her expression is almost playful, as if she is taking pleasure in the torment of this mere mortal. The Sailor of Destruction has always been an odd one, years of peace were against her nature.

"Does Serenity know about this?" he asks.

"_No, I don't want to trouble her. Chibi-Usa, too."_

"Are you still seeing her?"

Hotaru frowns, "_Chibi-Usa and I were never really in love, if that's what you mean. We're different, too different."_

He grins. Light watches their exchange, his expression almost angry.

"_You loved me, and I loved you, too. But that was a long time ago, I have a duty to uphold now."_

Ryuk sighs, "I figured as much. What are you going to do now?"

"_Now?"_

"About him." A skeletal finger gestured towards Light.

"_Power corrupts, Ryuk. This isn't his fault, it's yours. I'm done cleaning up your messes."_

"Very well then. Give me the Death Note, Light."

"No! Ryuk, I can't- _kill her_!"

Hotaru smiles, and there was delight in her gaze. Something wild had always had room in Destruction's soul.

Her eyes were of the cosmos, but there was something nasty hiding behind those brilliant violet eyes, and the Light found that he didn't want to be around when that something slipped it's leash. A shadow hides beyond the moon.

"Ryuk…" she whispers, and suddenly the world is loud in Light's ears, and the darkness swells from the depths of the sea.

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Light Yagami closes his eyes. Hotaru Tomoe smiles.

Ryuk sits back, ready to enjoy the show.

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**Thanks for reading! **

**Don't forget to review. I appreciate any corrections or compliments you have to offer.**


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